Sunday, April 2, 2017

Flynn- Flam

Phillip Carter has a good article on retired LtGen Flynn’s quest for immunization.Phil, a lawyer and former JAG Officer, is
well known to many members of this blog.He postulates (or maybe I am trying to read between the lines) that:

1] Although the Flynn/Kislyak
conversation was a felony, Flynn would never be prosecuted for that
relationship.(I agree.)

2] Or maybe Flynn lied to the
FBI, which is also a crime.(my
perception:Isn’t this what would have
sent Scooter Libby to prison before Junior Bush pardoned him?)

3]Failure to file under the
Foreign Agents Registration Act in a timely fashion could also be
prosecuted.(I do not believe anyone has
been prosecuted for FARA violations for over 50 years.)

4]The speaking fees Flynn got
from the Russians in 2015 violate the Constitution’s Emoluments Clause, which
applies to retired military officers.(Aren’t ’speaking fees’ what Flynn and Bannon were
going after HRC about during the campaign?)

5]Flynn’s reported conversations
with Turkish officials regarding whether Fethullah Gülen could somehow be kidnapped and sent to Turkey— may
well be a conspiracy to commit federal crimes.

6]Finally, Flynn may face legal
risk if he failed to disclose these foreign contacts as part of his top-level
security clearance applications. (see
Senator Tester’s letter below to DNI, OMB, and OPM on this issue.)

My own opinion is that the whole Flynn attempt at asking for immunity
is just more cooked up flim-flam.Perhaps
to generate sympathy? Why else make it a publicly announced offer instead of the usual 'behind-the-scenes' proffer? Or perhaps to deflect attention from elsewhere.Or perhaps to protect his son, who may be even more deeply involved as a lobbyist for foreign interests?But regardless of what happens Trump will pardon
him.

40 comments:

We now know that Susan Rice - Obama's national security girl - was spying on Trump and team by requesting that the names of those scooped up by surveillance be unmasked and passed around. I am sure there will be other top level Democrats revealed to be involved in the next several days. Flynn is small potatoes compared to what is coming re; the Obama/Clinton abuse of power and felonious handling of surveillance intelligence. I'm going to enjoy watching you guys do your best justify using the national security apparatus to spy on US citizens and political opponents and to attempt to sabotage the lawful election process.

Dude, you need to follow the bouncing ball. Rice said, yesterday, that she unmasked the data. I think there's more substance to that situation than there is to Trump and Putin colluding to "hack" the election, which is all I hqave been on your leftist propaganda channels since Nov. WTF does that even mean, hacking the election. I guess they figure they don't need to make sense when peddling garbage to fully indoctrinated zombies.

Yes yes avedis, in fact I believe Obama himself placed the wiretaps in Trump tower in a version of mission impossible gymnastics, avoiding Trump's masterfully designed death laser defense system to listen in on what Trump's latest tweets would reveal about his secret Venutian contacts and whether Trump is truly the second coming of Venu, the orange scourge of the SOL system.

Or perhaps, just a maybe Ms Rice found that in the course of the LEGAL WIRETAPS of the Russians they were monitoring, Trump's business partners names kept coming up and found legal cause to unmasked them SO A FUCKING PROPER CRIMINA INVESTIGATION could be conducted because the banks and Russians in question not only had ties to the Kremlin, but to the Russian mob as well.

Oh...Well now, wouldn't that be an awesome turn around of that orange hope of yours!

sheerahkahn,We are told that the "incidental" surveillance and unmasking was unrelated to any investigations into Russian election interference.Rice has already been caught lying in a cover up. Why would she lie if she was a lawful defender of truth, justice and the American way?

But, by all means, enjoy your fantasy of Trump/Russia collusion and an opportunity to remove Trump from office. One of these days, when you're ready, you'll come around to realizing that your ideology was rejected by voters, fair and square because, well, your ideology is not exactly reality based either. See you in a month and we can discuss how you're progressing with re-alignment to reality and the growing body of evidence that Trump is clean and that the Obama admin engaged in something surpassing Watergate in it's criminality and subversion of civil rights. avedis

@Avedis - "national security girl"? Did I hear a touch of misogyny? But even so, better that than Trump's national-security-felon.

In any case that allegation regarding Rice is another false meme coming out of the dark fringe corners of the internet like pizzagate. It is a weak attempt to change the subject.

Should Flynn be reprimanded, fined or imprisoned for his felonies?

But sadly I suspect many will hail Flynn as a hero for his criminal conduct. We have all seen this in the past - Bush/Cheney, Reagan, and Nixon - win-at-any-cost regardless of whether it is illegal or unethical!

You keep trying to change the subject and seem obsessed with a potential impeachment of Trump. Th post does not address that, neither Sheerakhan's nor my comments address it. You keep on saying "look over here, forget what you know about Flynn".

The he was less than forth coming with Pence and, therefore, by extension, with Trump. For that he was fired.

I am wondering what your obsession with Flynn is if not a path that you imagine would lead to Trump because, otherwise, he's just retired military brass doing what they do when they attempt to remain relevant.

Obsessed? No. Check our history. On this blog we have quite often posted on deceitful behavior or conduct unbecoming an officer by perfumed princes such as Flynn. The man is a retired three-star general. I am a veteran. Any misconduct or violation of Flynn's oath of office is my concern. I am hoping he pays dearly for his misdeeds. But he probably will skate free because of:

1] his buddies Bannon and Cernovich putting out false memes;

2] or a fix in with Comey and/or Nunes;

3] or most likely a pardon from the oval office.

As for Trump, you should go and pester Maxine Waters. She is the only Dem I know of talking impeachment. As far as I am concerned Pence is much worse than Trump.

To All,since sheer is forced to use the f bomb, one must reaally wonder as to the condition of the world scene.

i hope that i'm On Topic here, but doesn't seem extremely strange here and now that a former POTUS hit the sky and is now in Tahiti.wouldn't one expect our former first citizen to vacation in the Homeland?why Tahiti?maybe LTG Flynn could clarify this!

why don't we all just wake up and admit that we are governed by SHITBIRDS.?!?both parties are equally corrupt and the fight here is clear that we are stripping our gears and lost in a quagmire worse than the PWOT.we are a nation with out consensus and we are chewing on each others ankles.i am shamed by the invective and hatred that i read, especially on milpub. being drunk doesn't excuse the bullshit you guys are throwing about so frivolously.opposition does not imply being obnoxious pricks.(on either side of the spectrum)if you don't respect President Trump,then AT LEAST respect yous selves.jim hruska

Jim. Exactly. I at least recall that candidate Obama did a world tour meeting with all kinds of foreign leaders. This was before he was even elected. His meetings included Hamas. My point is so what if Flynn met with Russians. It's just hysteria and dishonesty - on the part of people who can't accept that their ideology was rejected in Nov - to make a big deal out of it. And that kind of thinking is tearing the country apart.

When Obama met with Hamas and others it was praised as showing that he was a serious and proactive guy. With high degree of likelihood, Flynn was being a serious and proactive guy meeting with the Russians before Trump took office. Trump wanted to hit the ground running. That's all there is to it. But it the current atmosphere Flynn wants immunity from further witch hunts. I sure don't blame him. Liberals are progressing right back to McCarthyism and banana republicism. Wonderful.

S.O.My bad. He met with the Palestinian authority, not Hamas. So he must have been a Palestinian agent. The point being, even dear leader was out conferring with foreign governments prior to even being elected. And that somehow Russia has suddenly become an exception to this apparently most acceptable practice. Why?

Maybe because said government is heavily under suspicion of having waged a disinformation campaign that benefited Trump and because the contacts were kept secret, unlike Obama's?

Let's be honest; had HRC's campaign staff had lots of secret meetings with the Chinese ambassador and other Chinese officials, and China come under heavy suspicion of having helped HRC's campaign with RNC leaks - what would (R) have said about it?

I suppose the honest answer is that they would have shouted "treason", would have had plenty Congressional investigations etc.. They would not have played it down at all.

I think this explains the dysfunctional hypocrisy;:https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/24/us/politics/partisanship-republicans-democrats-pew-research.html?_r=0With the divide this severe, both parties can expect the much bigger part of their followers to stick with them regardless. They can lie at will, they can be hypocritical at will, they can fail to deliver to their constituents at will - with partisanship this entrenched they get away with it. Their followers will excuse anything their own camp does and get angry even about nothingburgers of the other camp, like "Benghaziiiii!!!!!" and "maybe new Clinton Emails!!!!".

And from a European perspective (R) seems to foster and exploit this partisan divide a lot more than (D).

S.O.That's more like it :-). To paraphrase Jim, What Flynn did is SOP for the well connected in DC. There is no way, in a rational world, Flynn is going to take a hit for this because what he did pales in comparison to what is widespread amongst bigger fish. Who wants to start that precedent? Clinton and China, Clinton donors and recipients of foundation money helping supporting Putin. Clinton helping Russia obtain uranium. Russians influencing elections? How about Israel. No one can elected in the US without genuflecting before Israel and AIPAC money has a lot of influence on our foreign policy. It's probably a big part of the answer to why the hell we invaded Iraq. Ditto Saudi money which is also awash in DC. How the hell is that even remotely justified? Saudis stand in opposition to just about every US ethical value.

That's all I'm saying here. No one is thinking straight. They're in a frenzy over Russia, and anyone in Trump's camp, who talked to a Russian like it's 1952. It's getting dangerous to so much as order a cabbage roll. Therefore, I say that, despite the denials, this is 100% about getting at Trump.

Personally, I didn't like Flynn and I'm glad Trump did the right thing and summarily fired him. His replacement is a much better man.

Yes, we need to get past all dysfunctional hypocrisy or this country won't survive. You stated that well. The frenzy is so great that people are really believing their own bullshit.

I did not mean to disrespect Milpub - and I'm not drunk. I enjoy reading mil history here and think that the contributors are fine people with above avg intelligence. Thus my dismay at seeing the cut above descend into the madness whole heartedly.

S.O., one more point I feel compelled to make....this suspicion of interfering in our election has 0 proof. 0. You'd think by now some kind of evidence would be released. But it sure is nice that a cloud of suspicion can be dangled over Trump's head indefinitely because proof cannot be released due to needing to keep sources and methods secret, etc etc blah blah blah.

Wasn't the intelligence community the guys who said that Saddam had WMD? This they knew for sure, right? No need to let inspectors finish their job. I think that the intel was cooked is now established fact. That is one big example that we can all agree on. Of course there are many more.

But now we are to believe them? Sorry if I'm not taking them at their word. I am surprised that a group of progressives have found a new best buddy in the spook community. That is something new.

Mike, for one thing, I didn't think Flynn was qualified. My understanding is that his highest level experience is primarily of a tactical nature as a special operations kind of guy. I see no evidence that he has experience in big picture/strategy. I saw his role in Trump's camp as potentially more of a hit man. That might not have been the intention, but I think it would have evolved that way.

You and I both seem to agree that Flynn's replacement at the NSC, General McMaster, is a much better man. We may agree on some other things as I have seen your comment on RAW that we should scale down the Army and Marines. I could go with you on that, but the devil is always in the details.

And I concur with your comment that Flynn was unqualified for the job and basically a hitman, although I am much more vehement for what I believe are good reasons.

My beef with Flynn goes back long before the election campaign and long before he began working with Trump. Back in 2010 in Afghanistan Flynn seemed to think that as a targeteer he should not have to abide by nationally set ROE, in other words: f#ck civilian casualties, we carpet bombed in WW2 and should do it now. So he loudly and publicly told anyone who would listen what bozos were in the White House and the Pentagon. The press got the story, but General McChrystal was the one who took the fall. So because he (Flynn) couldn't keep his insults private we got saddled with Petraeus and McChrystal got fired. McChrystal had been called "the finest leader of men I have ever met" by SecDef Bob Gates.

Later in Jul 2012, Obama appointed Flynn as Director of DIA. For the next two years the man angered his direct superiors in the Pentagon and exasperated his subordinates with cockamamie schemes and his made-up "Flynn facts". So he was asked to retire in Aug 2014 by Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence Mike Vickers and the DNI. Vickers was his direct superior and the guy he was always squabbling with. Seems he does not understand the basic American premise of civilian leadership of the military. But he blamed Obama? He had two years there and 33 years in the Army. What was his beef? The man has a serious personality defect.

And now? The lying to the Vice President of the United States. Plus the potential felonies he is being investigated for - not only by the FBI but by Republicans in both the Senate and the Congress. Taking money from foreign governments in contravention of our Constitution. Participating in a conversation with Turks regarding the kidnapping of a legal permanent resident of the United States.

PS - I do not believe Flynn was ever a Special Operator as you mention. He was an intel weenie and an REMF like me. He may have served with SOF units, but was never one of them that I know of.

PPS - You seem to think that any attack on Flynn is an attack on Trump and should not be done. I say any possible malfeasance by Flynn or anyone else should NOT be swept under the rug for political reasons. Yes I am one of the deplorable libtards, what you and yours like to call snowflakes, but that does not mean I wouldn't loudly complain about a BHO or HRC general. In fact BHO was stupid enough to give Flynn the DIA job. And what about the ultimate progressive Jill Stein of the Green Party. I agree with much of the Green Party platform, but what was Jill Stein doing at the same dinner table as Putin and Flynn for the dinner honoring Putin's propaganda arm, RT? I believe she should also be investigated to see if she took any foreign campaign money.

Mike, Fair enough. I agree with all your grievances re; Flynn. I was going to say something about his character myself, but I never met the man. I would all be what I surmised. That said we surmise the same.

I have no problem with an investigation into Flynn himself, though I do think it petty. I am cynical enough to think he has nothing extraordinarily wrong. The moral compass in the country has shifted for the worse and I see no reason why Flynn should be made an exceptionable example. Perhaps pour encourager les autres, though I think we both know better.

That said, I am also cynical enough to believe that Trump's enemies see Flynn as a stepping stone to Trump himself. I will take you at your word that you are merely focused on Flynn in and of himself.

I don't think you're a snow flake. I voted for Obama twice. I started to very regret it a lot half way through his second term. All the same he was better than what the Rs had to offer and I credit him with resisting the temptation to confront Russia over Syria.

I repeat that Putin is the leader of a serious world power with whom we are not and have a lot in common. We should be talking to Putin. I cannot understand why is deemed so toxic, even to Jill Stein. Israel spies on us, we spy on everyone. Tying back to the previous post, IMO, it is the desire of our govt to maintain an imperialist posture in the world and to suppress free thought and liberty at home. Putin is a threat to both objectives of our govt. The latter because Putin has come to represent a rugged individualist defying the globalists who control our domestic agenda as much as our foreign policy. Here your snowflakes come into play. They are tools of the globalists.

I believe Russian music and Russian literature ranks up there with the best in the world. I'm a big fan of the long-suffering Russian people. They have been shat on by Tsars and by Communist political cadres. And by Hitler, during WW2 they were murdered by the tens of millions. And now they are being 'governed' by a clique of oligarchs and organized crime led by former KGB agents. We have a lot in common with the the average Ivan. We have zero in common with his overlords.

Of course we spy on them and them on us. That has nothing to do with the issue. My take on that situation was NOT that they (the Russian government) were colluding with Trump to win the election, or with Stein. They were provoking discord and discontent, which makes us weaker as a country. They didn't care who won. If HRC had won there still would have been suspicion and hostility here. That was their aim. Their propaganda organs like RT and Sputnik are the worlds best agent provocateurs. Russians have been experts at that for a hundred years. Or longer, they learned the technique from the Tsar's Okhrana back in the 19th century.

I think all countries are governed by a clique of oligarchs and organized crime. Sadly, increasingly that includes the US.

As for sowing discord and discontent, agent provocateurs, making us weaker, etc. One need look no further than our own media, both main stream and social and congress. Any Russian efforts (what? are the Russians a bunch of malicious juvenile pranksters?) are miniscule to beyond the tenth decimal point in comparison. Personally, I think the Russians were just positioning themselves to work with the whoever won the election.

I am not now and have never in the past suggested going to war with Russia. Neither did HRC despite all the propaganda to the contrary.

You may be right about increasing oligarchy in the US. We have discussed that here previously. Our corporations, untouchable as they are, want to control every aspect of our life. They are abetted by congressional Republicons, which is why I left that party back in 84.

Russkies as malicious pranksters? No. Weakening us allows them to peel off our allies, or change neutrals to their supporters. Plus it divides us internally on questions of foreign affairs so that we cannot come to consensus. That is definitely not juvenile monkeyshines.

Mike,You're gliding past the divisiveness of our own media. I watch Fox and Breitbart. Once in a blue I hold my nose and watch CNN, MSNBC, etc (just to do a little recon on enemy movements). It's like entering the atmosphere of another planet. Then, I do fact checking on what the leftist news has to say versus what the right wing news says. I have expertise in a couple areas. These are the areas I check. It's what I know. I find that neither are particularly factual, but Fox slightly more. Then I check with non-partisan experts in areas other than my own. Same findings.

More to the point, both right and left are totally absorbed in emotional hyperbolic hating of the other half of the country and they're both spinning tribal myths. This is also true of written media and social media. It's all fear and loathing. Now, you can doubt my fact checking and you can tell me "yeah, but us guys on the left are correct and you're not and that's why we're angry". However, anyone you talk to on the right will say the same about the left.

Are going to now tell me that the Russians are behind all of that? We are destroying ourseleves. currently, we're engaged in a cold civil war and I wouldn't be at all surprised if it went hot at some point. When BLM was burning cities and assassinating police last summer I thought we may have arrived. Russia behind BLM? Nah. It's our own politicians and their info ops. It's gone so far it cannot be discussed b/c each side thinks at this point that they are absolutely correct and righteous and that the other is the enemy. Look at what Chief writes. There's no reasonable discussion with the guy. He's round the bend barking mad re; The Right Wing Menace.

P.S while I acknowledge it is tribal myths to which we adhere, I go with the tribe that doesn't hate me as a hetero white male working for a living; the right wing. I don't believe the myth totally, but I dance to the drum beat for a sense of community. I sure as hell do not want to be in a tribe with Anderson Cooper or Al Sharpton.

FDChief is a good man. He responds to the insanity put out by the mighty wurlitzer. And you can have a very reasonable discussion with him unless you just parrot so-called Fox facts or Breitbart bullhockey. State your position, not Cernovich's lies or Limbaugh's anecdotes that he tries to pass off as evidence, or talking points from O'Reilly.

Fox, we deplorable snowflakes like to call Faux news. I sometimes watch their news shows, but I always make the sign of the cross when their opinion shows come on, which are 90% of their air time. Sorry to hear you are into the Breitbart conspiracists. Do those guys all live in their Mom's basement?

No the Russians are not behind all the divisiveness you mention. I never implied that. We are talking past one another again. They do take advantage of that divisiveness and try to make it worse.

PS - I'm a hetero white male, retired now but worked for a living since I was 14 years old up until nine years ago when I became eligible for Social Security and Medicare (great programs by the way which your Republican buddies want to give to Wall Street banksters). I am not a fan of Cooper. The Reverend Al has that 'get-in-your-face' attitude that p!sses off many whites, but most blacks love him for his willingness to stand up for them and go to jail for them if need be.

PPS - How do you claim to have voted for OBH twice if you are a follower of Faux and Breitbart? Something does not add up there.

You think that pointing out conduct unbecoming a general officer is hatred and invective?

As for your last sentence: I would not respect myself if I did not call out Flynn for the lowlife fraud that he has turned out to be. You would not let that behavior pass in an ensign or 2nd lieutenant, why would you excuse it in a three star just because you like his political connections?

Mike,it doesn't matter that Mc Chrystal was a great leader of men.when was that? generally as an o6, but o7's and above require different leadership.i for one question all GO's,ESPECIALLY West Pointres.i do not think that McM being a better man means a bean.being a better man is not a measure of leadership.all WP's are cut from the same cloth.they are all careerists.as for Phil Carter how do we know where/how and from whence comes his orders?Isn't he tied with the old abu mucawama group? isn't that group made up of liberal guys and coinistas?every man feeds his family , so why do i think Carter is more pure than any one else.

i do not think any of the people that you attack are worth a hill of beans,but i oppose the banty chicken little approach evident in recent discussions.the friggin sky is not falling.we are trained to be soldiers and not old hens.yep that's a sexist remark, and i stand to it.

i predict that Mc M will not cut the muster.who can trust a guy that shaves his head?but he shure looks like he's trust worthy because he's in a neat uniform.sometimes i wonder if any one can see past their noses.jim hruska

It is a good thing you question all flag officers, we all should. McMaster did the same. It is one of the reasons I like him. His personal history tells me he is unlikely to be a yes-man or an arse kisser.

I don't believe Phil takes orders from anyone. If you have evidence otherwise please post it. Liberal? Who knows? What I recall about Phil was that he was against torture. I do not believe that is a liberal only position. I do not recall him endorsing COIN. Are you saying that just because he served in Iraq that automatically makes him a COINistnik.

Chicken little approach? The only evidence I have seen of that was from Trump supporters during the election. And again now that their anointed one is having his best boys investigated.

You are right, the sky is not falling. Are you referring to myself and other colleagues here as old hens?

Andrew Exum was one of three who posted on the old abu-Muqawama blog. He was an Army Ranger like you. And also like you he was very critical of the so-called 'War on Terror'. I do not know who the other two were.

Off topic - Looks like McMaster has managed to eke out Breitbart Bannon off of the National Security Council, or at least from the Principals Committee. Or maybe it was Dan Coats or Joe Dunford who talked Trump into dumping Bannon from that job? In any case the witch is dead, I applaud the move. Or maybe he is not dead yet. Bannon has a way of rising from the dead and reinventing himself - from a Naval Officer, to a Wall Street Bankster, to a Hollywood mogul, to a Grandmeister of conspiracy theories, to Trump's right hand man. Perhaps Trump thought Bannon would be better suited off of the NSC and dreaming up more conspiracy theories about Rice or Farkas or Schiff or McCain/Graham.

I'm thinking that McMaster is cleaning house, and I suspect, with limited proof that White House Counsel is assisting by telling Mr. Trump to start distancing himself from anyone from his campaign staff which is start limiting their participation in government affairs.

This is speculation, but if the pattern follows past trends, Bannon will be out in a month due to "wanting to spend more time with his cats."

I also suspect that the trio of goons who leaked Nunes those classified docs will also be "given the opportunity to find other opportunities" because if you haven't noticed...Nunes is hardly heard from, and Schiff seems to be the face of the House Intel Committee. I think the GOP is telling Nunes to lay low for a bit till his being used as a sock-puppet by the WH is old news.

I'm not sure who the Senate committee is interviewing this week, but all sessions this week are closed door...so, not sure if we'll find out anything or not.

Past experience indicates that this sort of thing usually took a year or two to push through, so I thought this was unfolding very quickly...but, now I'm discovering through other channels that the FBI has slowly been picking at this knot for near a year now, if not more.

Also, if you haven't noticed, it looks like WH and others are backing away from the whole "Susan Rice" blah, blah, blah because that is one subject I'm sure they don't want blowing up in their faces...bad PR don't cha'know.

I think this falls in line with WH counsel telling WH people to STFU as the competency of said crew seems somewhat counterproductive (first rule in Law Enforcement is to get the perp to talk, and if he talks, let him...first rule of defense attorneys, shut-up, no, shut it, don't speak, don't think, don't talk, just shut.up.) and since the WH crew loves them some twitter and social media...(all admissible in court as they are considered public statements of fact in a court of law...which is kind of funny when you consider what the WH counsel must be going through trying to corral the chatty cathy's there)...me thinks WH counsel is going to get Mr. Trump plausible deniability *IF* they can control WH staff and remove Campaign staff.

Also, as a side...I'm kind of surprised at Mr. Flynn with all due respect. He's a General ffs, and as someone who kind of sort of...OR...SHOULD KNOW what our technical capabilities are that he...OF ALL PEOPLE...would be...I don't know whats the word for "you should know, and yet...really? You still acted as if you didn't?!?"

As for Flynn, of course he should have known as he was an Intelligence Officer for 33 years. He had the highest clearances in the land with access to all the special entry code word programs. The man cannot be that stupid can he? Early stage alzheimers? I am tending toward just pure arrogance on his part.

To All,i want to make a McM comment.a race is gauged by who crosses the finish line.McM is in a ball park that won't acknowledge or give a hoot for any WPPA efforts to save him when he'll be thrown under the bus.McM has bet his bars and we'll see how that goes.he doesn't have the depth or ability to fight the type of people that he'll engage.he's no longer got his flanks covered and his point element is to close to the main body.his rear is also exposed.i hope he does his job, but i'm extremely doubtful.sure Trump likes to surround himself with military types, but he is by nature the exact opposite in nature and temper.i'm not against McM, but i doubt he'll stay the course.he has no escape route.he must play the dupe or he's done.he may swell a scene or two.i'm signing off for a while.one can oppose without being obnoxious and offensive.jim hruska

Trump calls the shots, not his National Security Adviser. And Trump got sweet talked into it by Ivanka. She is not a neocon, but is going to be an RTP'er as bad or worse than Samantha Power or Victoria Nuland, or the other one, I forget her name. RTP'ers are in many cases as bad or worse than the true neocons.